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 For each dose, patients use around 50 leaves from the tree, which is
often used for lumber and is also known as the West Indian elm, and
run them through a blender with water. They then strain and drink
the green liquid.
Doctors and patients alike have questioned the effectiveness of the
remedy, which has for years been used in Venezuela and Brazil as a
complement to pharmaceutical treatment.
But HIV patients hoping to ward off AIDS increasingly see it as
better than nothing.
"I have nothing to lose," said one HIV-positive man as he prepared
and drank the beverage, asking not to be identified because his
co-workers are unaware of his diagnosis.
For years he received antiretrovirals provided for free by the
state, but supplies dried up as the country's socialist economic
system unraveled. After five months of not taking medication, his
doctor recommended the leaf concoction.
"My mind keeps telling me: I'm going to die, I got into this
situation because the government doesn't provide medication," he
said.
Dr. Carlos Perez began recommending the treatment at the start of
2018 when the shortage of antiretrovirals became acute. He tells
patients to drink the guasimo leaf beverage twice a day for a month.
"It is a complementary treatment," said Perez, who is part of an
organization called Solidarity Action that helps provide care for
HIV patients.
"(One) component of these leaves is tannin, a biochemical component
that apparently has antiviral properties."
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The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on
the medicine shortages.
Antiretrovirals can generally only be purchased abroad, and a month
of treatment costs at least $85, the equivalent of nearly a year of
minimum wage. Annual inflation reached 1.3 million percent in
November.
The Venezuela office of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and
AIDS said in an email that Venezuela had 120,000 people who were HIV
positive as of 2016, 61 percent of whom were taking antiretrovirals.
The agency said it relies on the government for the data, adding it
does not have any more updated information.
Some doctors insist the only real solution for HIV patients is for
the government to create functioning policies that ensure the
availability of medication.
"The state has failed in its obligations to ensure access to
healthcare," said Dr. Felix Oletta, a former health minister and
member of a non-profit group called Defending Epidemiology.
He added that the leaf beverage "does absolutely nothing, nor is it
a treatment with any scientific backing."
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Liamar Ramos, Writing by Brian
Ellsworth, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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